er led a slave insurrection in Tidewater, Virginia, killing over sixty whites. Benjamin Quarles, author of Black Abolitionists, explains that Turners insurrection and Walkers Appeal, as well as other militant abolitionist sentiment, combined to express the realist ideal of black armed revolt abolishing slavery (17-18).Perhaps the most militant voice of black rage during slavery is that of Henry Highland Garnet. In his 1843 proclamation, An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America, Garnet advocates resistance to slavery at all costs, even unto death. He proclaims, You had far better all die -- die immediately, than live slaves . . . (36). Advocating rebellion and the shedding of blood, Garnet asserts that there is not much hope of Redemption without the shedding of blood. If you must bleed, let it all come at once -- rather, die freemen, than live to be slaves (36). Arguing from a historical context, Garnet illustrates a pattern of rebellion and resistance, noting Vesey, Turner, Joseph Cinque , and Madison Washington (37-8). Although Garnet warns, We do not advise you to attempt a revolution with the sword, because it would be inexpedient, he does proclaim, Let your motto be RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE! No oppressed people have ever secured their liberty without resistance (37-38). But to what extent would RESISTANCE lead?While voices of black rage have persisted throughout American history, so too have more moderate voices of nonviolence and conciliation. However, these voices have often served to channel black rage, contributing to the races determination to overcome. One such example is Frederick Douglass. In an 1847 address to the Anti-Slavery Society in England, Douglass, while maintaining that he was a peace-man, opposing violence, clearly demonstrates that all Christian means have failed (The Right 66-7). In his famous Fourth of July Oration of 1852, Douglass warns America of her impending cris...
